A Different Kind
by Angelgirl3
Summary: The crew answer a distress call from a Nietzschean ship. Please R&R. The final chapter (Chapter 15) is up!
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own Andromeda or any of the characters except for Janet.   
  
Authors Note: This is my first ever fanfic so please bear with me and please R+R.   
A Different Kind  
by Angelgirl  
  
"Dylan. I'm receiving a distress call from a ship at these co-ordinates." said Andromeda who disappeared from the computer screen and showed the co-ordinates.  
  
"Hail them" replied Dylan. "This is Captain Dylan Hunt of the Starship Andromeda Ascendant. Are you in need of assistance?"  
  
A female voice answered. "Yes. This is ....... of the........was attacked..... severe damage to....."  
  
"Andromeda. Can you clean up that interference?"   
  
"No. There is something wrong with her communication system"  
  
Suddenly there was a loud explosive sound and a yell of pain came through to them.  
  
"That sounds like it hurt" said Harper who had been standing nearby.   
  
"Andromeda move to intercept. When we get to the ship bring it into Hangar 3. Harper follow me."Dylan said quickly.  
  
Dylan and Harper ran off the bridge towards Hangar 3. Dylan called Trance and on the com-link and told her to come immediately.  
********************  
The ship was badly damaged. Dylan and Harper had to force their way inside. There they  
found a woman lying unconscious on the floor. 'Oh great a Nietzschean' thought Harper. One Nietzschean on the ship was bad enough and here was another one. 'Maybe she won't stay that long' he thought hopefully.  
  
"Move you two so I can help her" said Trance. "She has severe head wounds and some minor burns. I have to get her to Med. Deck right away."  
  
"OK. Harper can you look around and see if you can fix the ship?"  
  
"No problem. I can fix it easily."  
  
"Good. Alright Trance let's get her to Med. Deck." He wanted to know what had happened. Why she had been attacked. Who had attacked her and would they attack other ships. No other ships had been detected in the area. The only one who could tell him was this woman.  
********************  
2 hours later...  
  
"Dylan. She's awake" Trance's voice came over the com-link.  
  
"I'll be right there Trance" Now I can find out what happened,he thought.  
  
He entered the Medical Bay and saw her. She was tall and slim with reddish-brown hair and blue eyes that seemed to stare right through him.   
  
"I'm Captain Dylan Hunt. You're on the.."   
  
"...Starship Andromeda Ascendant. You told me before." the woman said. "Thank you for  
answering my distress signal."  
  
"We couldn't just leave you. We had to do something" interrupted Trance.  
  
"Hmmmm....and where is my ship now may I ask?" She didn't trust these people. Why should she? Everyone hated or feared Nietzscheans but she had had no choice. She had to send out a distress signal or die and she wasn't ready to die yet.  
  
"In Hangar 3. Our engineer is looking at it" Dylan replied.   
  
Tyr walked in. He had heard there was another Nietzschean on board and was curious.  
  
"I see you have a Nietzschean on board" the woman commented. "What is your name?"  
  
"I'm Tyr Anasazi of Kodiak Pride ou-"  
  
"I asked for your name not your pride or your line."  
  
Tyr stared at the woman in surprise. He then regained his composure and asked "What's your name?"  
  
"Janet"  
  
Suddenly the ship shook.   
  
"Andromeda?" said a surprised Dylan.  
  
"A Nietzschean ship has just appeared and is firing on us."   
  
"They're after me." Janet said in a sort of resigned voice.   
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Andromeda or any of the characters except for Janet.  
Authors Note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this so far and can others please R+R. I crave feedback!!:-)  
  
  
  
Dylan and Tyr ran onto the bridge of Andromeda. "Report"   
  
"A Nietzschean ship has appeared on the starboard side and is firing on us. We've lost long range sensors." replied Beka.  
  
"It's a small vessel. We could destroy it in five minutes." Tyr said while tapping some buttons on his console.  
  
"No. Hail them first."  
  
"Channel open"   
  
"Ataacking vessel this is Captain Dylan Hunt of the Starship Andromeda Ascendant. Stand down your attack."  
  
The firing ceased and a male Nietzschean appeared on-screen. "Captain Hunt. I am Thor of Coyote Pride and commander of this vessel."  
  
"Why are you attacking us?" Dylan was not in a good mood. His ship had been attacked and he wanted to know why.   
  
"You are harbouring a murderer and a traitor. She must return to us and be punished for her crimes."  
*************  
Down in Med. Deck...  
  
"You can't go! You're not fully recovered yet." Trance was trying to reason with her patient. "Dylan can take care of it. He's pulled us through some tough spots before."  
  
"Dylan doesn't know these people, I do. He'll probably hand me over to them and I am NOT going." Janet had seen what punishments they gave and she was not going to go through that. She had done nothing wrong.  
  
"Dylan wouldn't hand you over without knowing the whole story. I am certain of that." Trance assured her.  
  
Janet thought for a minute. Then said"Where's the bridge on this ship?"  
  
Trance considered the possibilities. "Why?"  
  
Janet walked over to Trance "Where is the bridge?" she said threateningly.  
  
"Follow me."  
**************  
They entered the bridge just as Thor was finishing his sentence.  
  
"Liar" Janet yelled.  
  
Dylan turned around surprised. "Trance what's going on?"  
  
Trance just nodded in Janets direction where she and Thor were having a heated debate.  
  
"I did nothing wrong. You know it and I know it."  
  
"You killed Odius. You lead an attack against the pride. We took you in and you betrayed us."  
  
"They were slaves! I set them free! I didn't want them to attack and I didn't tell them to attack. I told them to leave. Odius was going to kill me only I killed him first."  
  
"That's enough!" Dylan was annoyed. He'd heard enough. His head was spinning. He had a ship full of ticked off Nietzscheans off the side of his ship ready to attack and he didn't want Janet provoking them anymore. "Trance bring Janet back to Med.Deck and keep her there."  
  
Janet started to protest but Trance grabbed her arm firmly and brought her off the bridge.  
  
Dylan turned back to Thor. Now what was he supposed to do?   
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer and all are in the first and second part of the story.   
  
  
Janet opened her eyes . Where was she? Oh yeah. On that ship the Andromeda. Trance had told her to rest. She must have fallen asleep. She heard a noise to the left of her and looked over. There she saw a Magog entering the room. She froze for a second or two and then leapt up to defend herself.   
  
"Don't be afraid I won't hurt you." Rev said.  
  
"I won't let you." was the reply.  
  
Just then Dylan entered. "I've convinced Thor to to wait a while. I want to know what happened and you can tell me." He then noticed the look on Janet's face and looked over at Rev. "Oh Janet this is another member of my crew Rev Bem."  
  
"I see" Janet said coldly. She still didn't trust the Magog in fact she didn't trust anyone on this ship. Why was the captain so intrested in what was going on? The only way to find out was to ask. "Why are you so intrested in this feud between me and Coyote Pride?"  
  
"Because I answered your distress call. You need help and I intend to help you."  
  
"Your help is not necessary. If you let me leave your ship I can enter slipstream and escape. They will pursue me but I might be able to get away. They can't chase me forever."  
  
"And you can't run forever." Rev pointed out.  
  
Janet opened her mouth to say something but stopped. She'd been running since she was 14. She had run from the Magog and the people who hated her because she was a Nietzschean. Now she was running from the Nietzscheans. Eventually she would have to stop and now was as good a time as any. Maybe she would comply with what the captain wanted. With these thoughts in mind she finally said "Alright Captain Hunt help if you want to but I'm warning you. They'll stop at nothing to bring me back."  
  
"Call me Dylan. We're on a first name basis on this ship. Now why are they so intrested in bringing you back?"  
  
"The Odius that Thor was talking about was the Alpha of Coyote Pride. Whoever brings back his killer becomes the Alpha."  
  
"And they think you're the killer?"  
  
"I am. But it was in self-defense, he was going to kill me. I never planned to kill him."  
  
"Why was he going to kill you?"  
  
"Coyote Pride kept slaves. I couldn't stand the cruelty of it. So one night I got a ship ready and let the slaves out. I told them to go to the Hangar that a ship was there and to take it. Unfortunately some of them decided to pay Coyote Pride back for everything they'd done and attacked. It was all so sudden I couldn't stop them. Nineteen Nietzscheans were killed. The slaves that didn't escape were executed or killed in the fight. I suppose Odius knew it was me who let them go so he tried to kill me only I... stopped him."  
  
"So you ran."  
  
"Of course. Odius wasn't the only one who wanted me dead for freeing the slaves, a couple of others did too. Now the whole pride are calling for my death."  
*****************  
On the Nietzschean ship...  
  
"We don't have time for this. We should be bringing the traitor back to our home right now." One of the crew members was arguing with Thor.  
  
"That ship is a High Guard Ship of the Line, if we go in and try to take her by force the captain won't hand her over to us and we'll have no chance of getting her." Thor replied and promptly hit the questioning crew member knocking him to the floor."Don't ever make a stupid suggestion like that again." He turned to the rest of the crew. "We will have the traitor soon. You can be sure of that." 


	4. Chapter 4

  
Dylan had just finished telling Janet's story to his crew. Beka was not happy. Dylan's idealism had lead them into trouble again and this time the trouble was some Nietzscheans out for revenge. Rev believed that the Divine had sent Janet to them so they could help her. Trance was ready to help and do whatever she was told. Harper wasn't very pleased with the idea of two Nietzscheans on board. Rommie agreed with Dylan, she knew they couldn't leave Janet. Tyr was suspicious of the newcomer. Something just didn't sound right about her story. Why would she betray her own pride? Why were they so angry at the death of their Alpha? He had been killed by the person he was going to kill. Since he had obviously lost in a fight didn't that make him inferior and therefore unfit to be Alpha? He planned to have a little talk with Janet soon. Right now though Harper had reminded the crew that they had a ship full of Nietzscheans nearby who wanted Janet dead.   
  
"How are we going to deal with them?" Harper asked. The room was silent. Nobody knew. Tyr thought about suggesting to destroy the Nietzschean ship but decided against it. He would be wasting his time, Dylan would never do it unless provoked. "Tyr?" Trance said.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"You... uh... looked like you were going to say something"  
  
"I wasn't"  
  
Trance had guessed wrong again. She had been doing it alot lately. She had brought Janet to the bridge which had not turned out like it was supposed to. Then she had left Rev to look after Janet, that had also not turned out like it was supposed to. The possibilities were changing quicker than usual. It was as if with every thought the others made the possiblities changed. She consoled herself with the knowledge that 90% of the time guessing was 50/50.   
*******************  
Back on the Nietzschean ship....  
  
Thor was getting impatient. What was happening on that ship? He had allowed the captain some time to hand over the traitor but this was ridiculous! He wanted that woman in the brig of his ship in 2 hours. He wasn't going to cooperate with that High Gaurd Captain any longer. "Prepare a shuttle", he ordered. "We're going to get her."  
*******************  
On the Andromeda...  
  
Tyr walked onto the Obs. Deck. Andromeda had told him he would find Janet there. Janet heard the footsteps and turned around. 'Oh', she thought 'It's Tyr. He's probably going to ask me about my pride and my family'. She wasn't too happy with the thought of that. She hated talking about her background. So far no Nietzschean knew where she was from and she liked it that way.  
"Dylan told me about what you've done", Tyr said.  
  
"That's nice." replied Janet.  
  
"Why did you betray your pride?"  
  
"I don't consider it betrayal. All I did was set the slaves free and defend myself against someone who was going to kill me. I didn't know that was betrayal but you would know more about betrayal than I would. I'm sorry about the fall of your pride." 'That's it Janet take the focus off yourself.' she thought but she was out of luck. Tyr was determined to find out what he wanted to know.   
  
"Why did you do it though?"  
  
"I felt sorry for the slaves. You should've seen it, they were treated like dirt. Coyote Pride had no right to do what they did."   
  
Tyr agreed with her."They became inferior because they depended on the slaves to do all the work. They depende on them to feed them and clothe them."  
  
"I never thought of it that way but now that you mention it yes that's exactly right."  
  
"Coyote Pride seem very angry about the killing of their Alpha."  
  
"Yeah. Odius was the one that made Coyote Pride powerful. It was during his rule that the first slaves were captured. He had seven wives and eighteen children. His eldest son is Thor. He's determined to follow in his fathers footsteps and become Alpha."  
  
"Wouldn't Thor be considered inferior now because his father was killed by you?"  
  
"I think he's afraid of that and that's why he's so determined to capture me, to prove that he is superior."  
******************  
In Dylan's quarters.....  
  
The hologram of Andromeda appeared in front of Dylan. "Dylan a shuttle just departed from the Nietzschean ship and is coming toward us."  
  
'Great', thought Dylan.'Just what I need.' Then he said "What Hangar are they heading for?"   
  
"Hanger 4"  
  
Dylan got up and headed towards Hanger 4."Let them into Hangar 4 but no where else."  
  
"Yes sir", and with that the hologram flickered out.  
  



	5. Chapter 5

  
Tyr was getting very frustrated. Janet was acting like Trance whenever she was asked about her family. She kept answering questions with questions or just flat-out refusing to answer. He then remembered something Thor had said on the bridge. "When you were arguing with Thor on the bridge he said Coyote Pride took you in. What did he mean by that?"  
  
Janet froze and thought for a minute as if considering how to answer this question or even answer it at all. "Coyote Pride wasn't the pride I was born into." was the simple answer.   
  
Tyr knew he had hit a nerve. He was about to ask her what pride she was born into when Janet turned to him and said "I have to go now. I promised Trance I'd help her....uh...sort out some medical files." and promptly walked out leaving Tyr staring after her wondering why she wouldn't talk about her life before Coyote Pride.  
***************  
Janet walked down the corridor scolding herself. Why had she said that? Why couldn't she just lie? She knew the answer. She was too honest for her own good. It was the way she had been brought up. Her father had always been an honest man. It was what had killed him. 'Stop thinking like that Janet', she thought to her self. 'He wasn't even your real father anyway.' She hated that fact for two very different reasons. One was that she loved her father so much she really wished he was her biological father but she wasn't a child anymore. She couldn't pretend any longer, it didn't matter anyway he was dead now. The second reason was because she had been raised by him she disagreed with many Nietzschean beliefs. She thought that marrying someone because of who their ancestors were was insane. She hated the idea of survival of the fittest and great many other things. She had all these beliefs because she was raised by a human. Growing up she had always known she was different from everyone else. It wasn't until her father had started schooling her that she realized how different she was. She also realized that everyone in the small village she grew up in hated or feared her and so she had learned to distrust everyone.   
  
While she had been thinking all this she had been wandering around the Andromeda and found that she had no idea were she was. She heard footsteps and looked around the corner hoping it wasn't Tyr coming after her. She was relieved when she saw a young man with blonde hair wearing a Hawaiian shirt. As he rounded the corner he collided with Janet knocking himself off his feet.  
  
Harper looked up and saw the Nietzschean visitor towering over him. He expected to hear "Watch were your going!" or something along those lines and was very surprised when he heard "Oh I'm sorry. Are you all right?" and her offering her hand to help him up. He accepted the apology but not the offered hand. He was Seamus Zelazny Harper he could get up himself. "I'm fine no harm done" he said.   
  
"Good. May I ask where you're going in such a hurry?"   
  
"I'm going to Hangar 3 to continue repairing your ship. You really messed it up." 'Smart move Harper. You're gonna get hit for that', he thought but Janet just laughed and said "I'm sorry. I was so busy trying to stay alive I didn't think about how hard it would be for you to fix it."  
  
"Hey Seamus Zelazny Harper can fix anything. It's just so many wires and connectors have been burnt out I'm having trouble finding replacements for them. By the way I found a bag near the helm. I guessed it was yours so I gave it to Trance to give to you."  
  
"OK. Well I guess I'll go collect my belongings then. Do you know where Trance is?"  
  
"Rommie. Where's Trance?" Harper asked the AI.   
  
"Trance is on Med. Deck in Sick Bay 4."  
  
"There you go." Harper said to Janet.  
  
"Thanks" said Janet with a smile that made Harper think she was very attractive......for a Nietzschean.  
***************  
Dylan stood outside the door to Hangar 4 beside a computer panel. "Andromeda what are they doing?"  
  
"They're trying to force the door open."  
  
"Put me on the communications screen in there."  
  
"Done."  
  
"I strongly advise you to get back on the shuttle and leave my ship." Dylan said.  
  
"Where's the traitor?" was the reply.  
  
"Janet has been granted asylum on this ship. You can't take her without a fight. A fight which you will definitely lose."  
  
"We'll see about that." Thor said before he smashed the screen.  
  
"Dylan I'm reading a breach in the ventilation system."  
  
"Damn them."  
  
Two Nietzscheans dropped out of the shaft nearby. "Andromeda activate internal defense systems." Dylan ordered.   
  
A bolt of electricity shot out of the wall knocking one of the Nietzscheans out. The other one punched Dylan in the stomach. Dylan slammed him against the wall and threw a couple of punches. They continued fighting in the hall. Andromeda didn't dare shoot out another bolt in case she hit Dylan.  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	6. Chapter 6

  
Tyr looked out the window on the Obs. Deck . He was thinking about Janet and her constant refusal to answer his questions. He remembered the look in her eyes when he had asked her about her parents. There was something there that he couldn't put his finger on. Her eyes had gazed straight into his and a look of sorrow had come over her face. She had then said jokingly "Why are you so interested in my line?" and a playful smile had broken out lighting up her face making her eyes shine like stars. She was very beautiful. She came from a good line. Tyr could tell by just looking at her. Her hair was brown but when the light caught it just right a tinge of red shone making it more auburn than brown. But it was her eyes that really caught his attention. They were sky-blue surrounded by long curling eyelashes and perfectly shaped. They seemed to pierce right through him and it was as if with one look she had known everything about him. At first she had been withdrawn but gradually that had melted away to reveal an intelligent woman with a mind of her own who was quite good at avoiding questions that she didn't want to answer. Tyr was interested and wanted to find out more about her.   
  
Just then a ventilation shaft opened and a Nietzschean jumped out landing right in front of him jolting him out of his thoughts. 'Big mistake', thought Tyr. He punched the Nietzschean in the face surprising him. He punched him again and again until the Nietzschean fell onto the floor unconscious. 'Too easy', he thought. He then remembered Janet, they would be coming after her and she might be outnumbered. He set off to find her.  
********************  
Trance hummed to herself as she watered her plants in Hydroponics. She heard a noise behind her and turned. There was a Nietzschean coming towards her. She spun around and ran down the aisle between the shelves of plants closely followed by the Nietzschean. Trance pushed over a table of empty pots and other tools which made him slow down temporarily. It was enough time for Trance to run out the door. She ran up the corridor and climbed down two decks using one of the ladders. There she bumped into Tyr. "Janet's four decks down, turn right, then left, first door on the left. HURRY.", she said to him. She then ran down the hall not even waiting for an answer, hoping she had guessed right.   
********************  
Janet looked around the quarters Trance had shown her to. She had told her she wasn't going to stay here but Trance had insisted and wouldn't take no for an answer so after a few minutes Janet had given in. She was tired out by avoiding Tyr's questions and was quite content to just follow Trance. She had put Andromeda on privacy while she unpacked her things. They were her things no one else's. She took out a photograph of her father and herself taken when she was four years old. It was her favorite. The bone spurs on her arms were tiny in comparison to the size they were now and they had become tangled in his hair making it look like he had spikes coming out of the side of his head. She sighed, those days were gone and they wouldn't be coming back. She put the photograph down on the table and reached into her bag. Her hand hit something cold and hard. What was it? She took it out. It was the gun she had used to kill Odius. The feeling of guilt that she had been suppressing shot through her. She had always sworn to herself that she would never kill anyone and she had broken that promise. Why? Why couldn't she have just knocked him out? What had possessed her to pick up the gun and shoot Odius? These questions often came into her mind at times but she had always pushed them back out again. She couldn't answer or maybe she wouldn't answer. Maybe she didn't want to know why. In a fit of rage and confusion she threw the gun across the room not caring if it went off. Luckily it didn't. The safety catch was on.  
  
She heard a slight noise behind her but before she could turn around she felt a jolt of pain in the back of her head and then everything went black.  
********************  
Tyr ran down the corridor towards the room Trance had told him he would find Janet. The door hissed open in front of him and he entered but there was no one there. He looked around examining the room but saw nothing. He then looked above him. The vent shaft was open. Janet was gone.  
********************  
"Hey! Hey!", Trance yelled down the ladder. She was trying to distract the Nietzschean long enough for Dylan to push him away so Andromeda could shoot at the Nietzschean. Finally she climbed down the ladder upside down holding herself by the tail. "Hello.", she said to the Nietzschean. He looked up in surprise. Dylan shoved him and Andromeda shot out a bolt of electricity knocking the Nietzschean unconscious. "Thanks Trance." Dylan said.   
  
But before she could reply a Nietzschean dropped out of the vent landing face down on the floor closely followed by another. It was Janet and Thor. It was obvious that Janet was unconscious. Thor grabbed her and held a gun to her head.   
  
"I wouldn't move if I were you." he said to them menacingly.   
  
"Thor. We have another one.", said one of his crewmen while dragging a protesting Harper.  
  
"Good. Now Captain Hunt if you want your crewmember back alive I'd advise you to let my men and I leave without any trouble."  
  
"You and your crew can leave but Janet stays here."  
  
"I'm sorry I'm afraid I can't allow that. She is a traitor and a murderer. She must be punished. Now let us leave."  
  
Janet groaned. She was starting to come around. Thor hit her and she fell again. Dylan was stuck between a rock and a hard place. In one hand he held Harper's life and in the other Janet's. He looked to Trance pleading her to help. She looked around and then whispered "There are one million two thousand three hundred and sixty ways this could turn out. Of that one thousand three hundred and sixty.. no.. forty-three that could turn out well for Janet and Harper."  
  
That didn't sound good to Dylan."Which one do I choose?"  
  
"Remember ninety percent of the time guessing is fifty-fifty and my guesses haven't been turning out the way I expected lately."  
  
Dylan sighed. "Trance just tell me."  
  
Now it was Trances turn to sigh but she had warned him. "We have a better chance of everything turning out OK if we let them go with Janet."  
  
Dylan didn't like that thought. "Is there any other way?"  
  
"Stop stalling for time Hunt." Thor said impatiently. He had just radioed the rest of his crew back to Hangar 4.   
  
Dylan thought for a minute. "Go." he said reluctantly.  
  
Thor signaled his crewmen into Hangar 4. He then entered it himself. "Thank you Captain Hunt." he said heading towards the shuttle.  
  
"Hand him over."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"My engineer Harper."  
  
"Oh he's your engineer? Well then I believe he will be useful to me.", said Thor and entered the shuttle. The engines started up.   
  
"Andromeda. Don't open the doors."  
  
"Dylan. If you don't let them go they might kill Harper and then throw him out of the shuttle or worse." Trance said.  
  
Then the shuttle left the Andromeda.  
  
"What? Andromeda?" Dylan exclaimed.  
  
"They hacked into the Hangar controls and opened the doors. I couldn't stop them." Andromeda answered. Dylan watched on the computer panels screen as the ship entered slipstream and disappeared.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	7. Chapter 7

  
Janet opened her eyes. The world around her was a blur of colours and muffled voices. Gradually everything came into focus and she saw Thor's face. She moved to punch him but found she was being restrained by some steel cuffs around her wrists connected to the bed she was on. He laughed. Janet looked around taking in her surroundings. She was in what looked like a Sick Bay on a Nietzschean ship. Why was she in Sick Bay? They wouldn't care if she was injured or not and they certainly wouldn't treat her if she was. She then became aware of the intense fiery pain in the back of her head. She groaned.  
  
"Take her to the brig." Thor ordered.   
  
The cuffs were released and two pairs of rough hands gripped her arms and pulled her down the corridor. "Let me go!", Janet protested. "I can walk by myself." The hands dropped her. She stumbled for a moment and then started walking slowly and unsteadily down the hall. When they reached the brig the Nietzscheans let down a forcefield and shoved her in. Janet fell to the floor. She lay there for while not wanting to move. She wished she could die right there because this was just the beginning. There was much worse to come.   
  
"What you in for?", a familiar voice broke the silence. Janet looked up in surprise. "Harper?!"  
  
"That's my name."  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those damn Nietzschean bastards grabbed me and used me to get off the Andromeda first by threatening Dylan to kill me and then using my codes to open the Hangar doors."   
  
"This is awful. You shouldn't be here. You didn't do anything to them. Damn them if they hurt you I swear I'll....." Janet trailed off. What could she do? This was all her fault. She felt terrible. She wished she'd never sent out the distress signal. Then all this never would have happened. These people who were trying to drive back the Long Night as it was called had been disturbed in their mission because of her." Oh God help me.", she said.  
  
"What did you say?" Harper said.  
  
"I said 'Oh God help me.'" Janet replied.  
  
"What are you a Wayist or something? You're the first Nietzschean I've ever heard pray to a god."   
  
"Yes well I'm not your average Nietzschean now am I?."  
  
Harper thought for a moment."No you're not." he finally replied.  
  
A long silence followed.   
********************  
"Andromeda can you follow them?", Dylan asked.  
  
"No. They're long gone by now."  
  
"Do you know what planet Coyote Pride live on?"  
  
"No. They're last known home was Sierrea Five but that was three-hundred years ago."  
  
"Well it's worth a try." Dylan answered and announced over the com system. "Prepare for slipstream."  
*******************  
Janet slammed her fist into the forcefield only to be thrown back away from it. She paced back and forth. She was really annoyed. Her head hurt like hell, she was on her way to an unwelcome planet and she had dragged a perfectly innocent human into the trouble.  
  
"Hey. Calm down. Even if you did break down the forcefield where would you go? Mars?" Harper said sarcastically. He didn't like the situation anymore than Janet but at least he was handling it better, he hoped.  
  
Janet sat on the bench across from Harper. "No but I could gain control of the ship and maybe then I could...." she trailed off when she realised that she didn't even know what she was talking about and what she was saying didn't make any sense. "I just can't think straight right now.",she said and put her head in her hands.  
  
"Well that's kinda obvious."  
  
"Shut up" Janet snapped. She put her hand on the back of her head and felt a deep cut there. She wondered what they had done to her while she had been knocked out. She decided to leave it alone and let her nanobots deal with it. She looked over at Harper. He seemed to be in a world of his own.  
  
Harper was thinking about the Andromeda. He knew that they would be looking for them but he didn't think they had a chance in hell of finding them and even if they did knowing his luck they would be found dead.   
  
The forcefield was turned off and Thor appeared at the entrance. "We're home." he said with a cruel look in his eyes.   
  
  
  
  
  
  



	8. Chapter 8

  
"Exiting slipstream now." Dylan said. "Anything?"  
  
"Nothing detected on the planet." Rev replied.   
  
"Well. That sure helped. Now we've put ourselves about a day behind them and we have no idea where they are." Dylan said and got up to check the sensor readings for himself. It wasn't that he didn't trust Rev he just felt like seeing for himself.  
  
The door hissed open and Beka sauntered in. "I've found 'em.", she announced.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Coyote Pride live on Fortuna Prime. Seven slipstream jumps away from here. In other words three and a half days."  
  
"How-?"  
  
"I hacked into the database on Janet's ship."  
  
Dylan rolled his eyes. Why did he ask? He then said "Good work Beka."  
  
"What's the matter Dylan? You don't seem too happy."  
  
"Do you always have to hack into a computer to get the information you want?"  
  
"Hey it worked didn't it?" Beka said while strapping herself into the pilots chair.  
  
Dylan couldn't argue with that. "All right. Take us into slipstream Beka. Where's Tyr by the way?" His mind had been so preoccupied with finding Harper and Janet he hadn't noticed until now that he hadn't seen Tyr in a while.  
  
"I haven't seen him" Beka said.  
  
Andromeda appeared on the screen. "He's not anywhere. I can't detect him."  
  
"Tyr what the hell have you done now?" Dylan said quietly to himself and walked off the bridge.  
********************  
A cell door opened and Janet was thrown in landing hard on the floor. She pushed herself on to her hands and knees breathing heavily. She had been beaten, electrocuted and had been subject to many other different kinds of torture. They had done everything to her except break any bones, rape or kill her. They were trying to force her to admit that she was a murderer, a traitor and inferior to them. She had refused to do so and had only been beaten more and more. She looked around the room. It was in the block of cells where the slaves had been housed. The walls were made of thick stone and the only light came in from a narrow slit near the ceiling. She remembered when she used to sneak in here late at night and give the slaves some food she had saved for them. She had also tended to the most serious of their wounds. It had been good for them and for her. She had liked showing them that there were different kinds of Nietzscheans and not all of her people were cruel and selfish. She wouldn't tell them her real name for fear that they would reveal her unintentionally to the rest of the pride, so they had called her 'The Different One'. It had fit perfectly in more ways than they could ever imagine.  
  
Then she remembered Harper. Where was he? She looked around the dimly lit cell. She couldn't see him. She stood up and steadied herself by leaning against the wall. She moved slowly towards the door and peered through the narrow bars set in the door at about shoulder height. There were no guards that she could see. She gave a small smile. They underestimated her. That was good. The more power they thought they had over her the less they actually had.  
  
"Harper?", she whispered. "Harper, are you there?"   
  
No response. Janet hit the door in frustration. She had an awful temper that she always tried to keep in check but at times like these it was impossible. She then realized she wasn't helping herself. She needed to rest and give her nanobots time to heal her wounds.   
  
She moved to a corner and curled up but she couldn't sleep. Her thoughts kept wandering all over the place. She thought her childhood, the death of her father and the day she had left Maceak, the village she had grown up in. No one had been sorry to see her go. She was a Nietzschean, she didn't belong there. The villagers' greatest fear was that her parents would show up someday and kill them for keeping her there- at least that's what Janet thought. They probably would have killed her when her father had died because there was no one to protect her from them any more. So she had left and wandered around for over ten years, looking for her place in the big wide universe.   
  
She had always wanted to join her people. She had read alot of Nietzschean history, paying close attention to recent history looking for some clue as to what Pride she was from but had found nothing. The battle that had most interested her was the fall of the Kodiak Pride. It had been awful. The betrayal of the Kodiak was terrible and she really felt for them. Tyr hadn't told her much about the fight and she could see it had hurt him. His parents had been killed in it. He was considered inferior because of it. She had told him that he wasn't inferior. He had survived hadn't he? He was better than Drago-Katzov because they hadn't beaten him. She didn't know why she had said that. She had just blurted it out. Now that she thought of it she had told him more about herself than anyone else. There was something about him that made it very hard to lie and it wasn't because she had been brought up with a sense of honesty. Even the lie about helping Trance sort out medical files just to get away was hard to say because she didn't want to leave. She had wanted to stay with him and talk some more but she knew if she did she would end up telling everything to him and she didn't want to do that. He would turn his back on her, he would consider her inferior and she wouldn't be able to stand it. He had stirred up feelings in her that she had never felt before and she didn't want them to go away. She smiled despite the pain and discomfort she felt and fell into a light sleep.  
  
Authors End Note: Sorry about taking so long to update. Unfortunately writers block set in. :-) I wasn't sure 'bout the romance subplot but my friend forced me to do it so blame her. :-)  
  



	9. Chapter 9

  
Dylan walked out of Tyr's quarters. He had been searching everywhere for him. He needed to know if he had any information about Coyote Pride that might be useful. "Andromeda are you sure you can't detect him anywhere?"  
  
Rommie, the ships avatar walked around the corner. "No he's not here."  
  
"Check your sensor logs. When did Tyr disappear?"  
  
"He was outside the quarters Trance had shown Janet to and then vanished. I assume he went inside. Janet had me on privacy so I don't know what happened."  
  
"Is that area still on privacy?"  
  
"Yes"  
  
"Deactivate it."  
  
"Still nothing. The ventilation shaft is open though."  
  
Dylan went to investigate closely followed by Rommie. He entered the room and looked around. He saw a bag on the table with a few things beside it and a gun on the other side of the room. He walked over to the table hoping to find something that would help him even if it meant going through Janet's possessions. He saw the photograph of Janet and her father. He picked it up and examined it. "It's Janet and a human." Rommie said.  
  
"You're not going to find anything that'll help you." Trance's voice came from the door.  
  
Dylan quickly put the photograph down. "I might. You never know."  
  
"I do know. Janet hasn't anything about Coyote Pride with her. She left it all on Fortuna Prime. She told me so."  
  
"What else did she tell you?"   
  
"Nothing that would be of interest to you. Except that she didn't know what she was thinking when she joined Coyote Pride and she was sorry she did. That was all. Oh yeah and Tyr had given her the interrogation of a lifetime."  
  
"Why am I not surprised?"  
  
Trance didn't answer instead she said, "The best thing for you to do now is start working on a way to get Janet and Harper out of there as quickly and as safely as possible." She worried about Harper. His dodgy immune-system might not be able to deal with the conditions she imagined him and Janet to be imprisoned in. She guessed Janet's nanobots would protect her from any infection.   
  
"I need to know what the area looks like."  
  
"I could download a plan from the database on Janet's ship." Rommie suggested.  
  
"Let's go." Dylan said and they left the room.  
********************  
The door opened and a body was thrown in beside Janet waking her. She hadn't been sleeping anyway more like dozing. She looked over at the body. "Harper?" she whispered. "Are you OK?"  
  
He groaned. "Bin better."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"I've been up all night fixing their computer systems.", he said while sitting up.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Apparently they're too superior to do it themselves."  
  
Janet rolled her eyes. "That sounds familiar. Are you hurt?"  
  
"No just didn't have a very pleasant landing."  
  
"You're cut." Janet pointed to a large gash running down Harper's arm.  
  
"It's nothing."   
  
"It looks nasty."  
  
"I told you it's nothing." Harper wasn't about to admit that it wasn't nothing. He could see Janet's wounds were much worse than his. She was covered in bruises, cuts and burns and that was only her face. He was amazed that she could move.  
  
"If you say so." Janet was tired and didn't want to argue. She moved back into her corner and curled up. The door opened and two pairs of hands grabbed Janet hauling her to her feet and dragged her out of the cell. She didn't make a sound, she knew it wouldn't make any difference. She stumbled and twisted around trying to keep her balance, as she was doing this she happened to look behind her. She saw a shadow and then a face she recognized looking out of the cell across from where Harper was. "Tyr.", she whispered. "I..." The men brought her out into the morning light and the building door shut.  
  



	10. Chapter 10

  
Janet fell to the ground for about the thousandth time that day. "Don't you have anything better to do than beat me up? Like rebuild your pride?" she said in a weak voice that had an air of determination in it.  
  
"Traitor" was the only response.  
  
"Is that all you can say?" Janet knew she was asking for a beating but she didn't care. Seeing Tyr in the block of cells had given her strength and hope. 'You were probably just imagining it', her common sense kept saying but something else told her that she wasn't. Tyr had been there.  
  
Thor grabbed her by her neck and pulled her roughly to her feet. "You betrayed the pride."  
  
Janet racked her brains trying to find some response, anything. She remembered what Tyr had said earlier. "I was trying to help the pride." she choked out.  
  
Thor dropped her and with a look of suspicion he said, "Explain yourself."  
  
Janet was on her hands and knees breathing heavily and coughing. "You depended on the slaves to feed you and clothe you. You were becoming inferior."  
  
A strange look came over Thor's face. It wasn't anger, it wasn't agreement. Before Janet could decipher it Thor kicked her and said "Take her away. Leave her in the cell with that human. No one go near it. They'll get so hungry and so sick of each others company they'll kill each other."   
  
'Wrong. We'll escape and you won't even know about it.' Janet thought as she was being led back to the cell.  
*********************  
Janet was pushed into the cell. The door shut behind her and footsteps moved away. The minute the door to the field outside was closed she moved towards the door of the cell and whispered, "Tyr. Where are you? I know you're here I saw you."  
  
Harper thought Janet had lost her mind. He was about to say so when he heard. "Quiet woman." There was a sound of the bolt being drawn back and the door opened. Janet who had been leaning on the door for support fell straight into Tyr's arms. He walked into the cell and put her down in a sitting position with her back against the wall. He looked at her face. It was covered in cuts and bruises. One cut was still bleeding, sending a stream of red down her face. She was still beautiful in spite of her wounds. Her eyes shone bright and clear showing the determination and independence that he had seen on the Andromeda was still there despite everything she had been through. "How did you get here?" she asked.  
  
"I stowed away on the Nietzschean ship. I've been observing Coyote Pride's defenses, or lack thereof. We could escape easily."  
  
"Why did you do it?"  
  
"When I went into your quarters you were gone and the vent shaft was open. I followed Thor and you through the vents and realized that Dylan was going to let them leave with you. I thought they were going to kill you so I hid the ship to see if I could help you escape."  
  
That didn't make sense to Janet. Why would he put himself in danger for her? It didn't matter she would find out later. What mattered now was that he was here and they had a chance of escape. "Ow!", she cried out. Tyr had put his hand on the back of her head while trying to assess her wounds. He gently pushed her forward and moved behind her so he could see what had caused her to cry out. He parted the shoulder length strands of hair and saw a deep cut.   
  
"She's had that since we got here." Harper had finally found his voice. Janet looked at him in surprise. "I'm not blind.", he said to her.  
  
"It's taking ages to heal. It must be much deeper than I originally thought." Janet told Tyr.  
  
"It is very deep." Tyr replied.  
  
"Leave it alone. My nanobots can deal with it."  
  
"Yeah I'm sure they've just been busy taking calls from your other less serious cuts that they decided to leave the most painful and most serious one last." Harper said.  
  
Janet shot him a withering look. Harper backed off. "We'd better wait until it's dark before we leave." Janet said, trying to change the subject. Tyr agreed.  
  
"But those guys have a sort of schedule thing going. You know beat Janet up during the day, make Harper work at night." Harper pointed out.  
  
"Not any more. They're going to leave us here for awhile with no food, no water, nothing. Thor believes we'll get so sick of each other we'll kill ourselves."  
  
"How pleasant." Harper said with a look of disgust.  
  
"Don't worry Harper. I would've made your death quick and painless." Janet replied. Harper would have been worried if he hadn't seen the expression on her face telling him she was joking.   
  
"How long till nightfall?" Tyr asked.   
  
Janet looked at the narrow slit in the wall near the ceiling. The light had a pinkish hue to it. "Another hour or two I suppose."   
  



	11. Chapter 11

  
"Download complete." Rommie reported.   
  
"Good. Now let's see what we've got." Dylan said.  
  
Rommie told him some Coyote Pride history while they made their way to Dylan's quarters.  
  
"Coyote Pride left Sierrea Five twenty years ago after a war with Sula Pride greatly diminished their numbers to just one thousand. They killed their Alpha Craigus and Odius came into power. Odius moved them to Fortuna Prime where they captured the natives and kept them as slaves. I suppose because of the drop in their numbers they desperately needed a new influx of genes for the gene pool so they took in Janet, no questions asked."  
  
They entered Dylan's quarters. Andromeda put a map up on one of the screens. "Because of their small numbers Coyote Pride only have one village. It's here." Rommie pointed to an area on the map. It enlarged and showed a plan of the town. "The slaves were kept in this building here. In the middle of the field. The Alpha and his family live in this building. Other families live in the other houses. The Hangar is situated here and the other buildings around are workshops and storage sheds. The whole area is surrounded by fields where Coyote Pride grow their crops and beyond them is a dense forest."  
  
The door slid open and Beka entered. "Trance told me you were planning a rescue mission."  
  
"Yes. Would you care to join us?"  
  
"Sure." Beka sat down. "That their home?" she nodded toward the screen.  
  
"Yes." Dylan replied and turned to Rommie, "Where are Janet and Harper most likely to be held?"  
  
"There are no imprisonment areas except for where the slaves were kept so I'd say they are there."   
  
Beka looked at the screen. "Are there any clearings where we can land the Maru?"   
"The forest is very thick. The clearing that is closest to them is here. If we land there it'll take three hours to get to the village. We have to get in, grab Janet and Harper and get out."  
  
"Tyr might be there as well." Dylan said.  
  
"What makes you think that?" Beka asked.  
  
"He's not here on the ship. He disappeared when Coyote Pride left. He jumps at the chance to prove himself superior to other Nietzscheans. What am I supposed to think?"  
  
"He's also fond of Janet." Rommie commented.  
  
Dylan and Beka stared at her. She stared back said "I detected an acceleration in the heart rate of both of them while they were talking on the Obs. Deck."  
  
"Well", Beka said. "That's their business. Now how do we get them out?"  
********************  
Tyr, Janet and Harper crept across the fields towards the forest. Dark clouds covered the moon and the stars making the landscape pitch black. They hoped the clouds would stay until they reached the forest. Janet was leading them. They entered the forest and stopped to decide what to do next. Tyr didn't like this at all. "We should have planned what we were going to do before leaving.", he said.   
  
"It would take too much time. Darkness came quicker than I expected. We had to leave before the clouds cleared." Janet replied.  
  
"We'd have been better off with at least an idea of what we are going to do."  
  
"There was no time, Tyr. We have to make the most of the darkness. Those clouds aren't going to be there all night and the moon here is very bright."   
  
"OK guys now's not the time to start bickering." Harper interrupted. There was silence. Janet sighed, Harper was right. "I know some caves in the hills we can hide in. It'll take us all night to get there but we can stay in them during the day.", she suggested.  
  
"Where do you plan to go with this? How are we supposed to get off this planet?" Harper asked.  
  
"They will eventually find out we're gone and come out to find us. When they do that they'll have to follow our trail. We're going to the hills without stopping and it'll take us all night. They'll have to search every nook and cranny trying find us so it'll take them about a day."  
  
"Yeah and this will help us how?"  
  
"I dunno. I'm making it up as I go along. We could circle back to the village, steal a ship and leave."  
  
"Why don't we do that now?"  
  
"Hey you're supposed to be genius Seamus Zelazny Harper. They'll hear us and have a ship after us in seconds if we go now, but with most of them searching in the woods for us it'll take longer for them to send a ship after us."  
  
"Let's stop wasting time. Janet show us the caves." Tyr said.   
  
"Careful. It's rather tricky if you don't know your way especially in the dark." Janet said and walked through the woods. Tyr and Harper followed.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	12. 

  
Tyr followed Janet through the woods. She was some distance ahead of him, moving quickly, occasionally looking back to see if Harper and Tyr were keeping up. He admired how swiftly and sure-footedly she was moving. Janet was surprising him more and more every minute. She could switch from being open and honest to being reserved and secretive in a blink of an eye. Tyr was very wary of his feelings towards Janet. Part of him was saying he didn't know anything about her pride or her lineage and that he was a Nietzschean, he didn't believe in love and he didn't feel love. So what was this feeling he had every time she looked at him with those piercing sky-blue eyes?   
  
Before Tyr could answer his own question, Janet stopped ahead of him and waited for Harper and Tyr to catch up. "Here we are", she said when they reached her and disappeared into the opening of a cave set in the hill. Tyr and Harper followed. Janet took off the jacket she had been wearing ever since she came to the Andromeda, rolled it up and put it on the ground. She lay down and rested her head on it saying, "I don't know about you guys but I'm exhausted so I'm gonna sleep now and no one dare wake me up unless we're under attack or something or else you're in serious trouble." With that she fell asleep. Tyr moved towards the entrance of the cave and settled down. He planned to stay awake in case of attack. Harper looked around him then sat down opposite Janet. He was tired too, he felt his eyes gradually closing and he drifted into an uneasy slumber. Tyr was the only one left awake. He listened to the gentle breathing coming from Janet and Harper behind him and drifted off lost in his thoughts.  
********************  
Janet sat up. She wondered where she was. Then she remembered. She was in one of the caves in the hills. They had reached them quicker than she had thought. She looked around her. Harper was fast asleep on the opposite side of the cave. Tyr was near the entrance. Janet stood up and stretched. She was stiff from the beating she had taken over the last two days. She heard the sound of birds singing. That must have been what had woken her up. She saw that the area around the opening of the cave was a purply-blue colour. 'The sun must be coming up soon.', she thought. She decided to go watch the sunrise. She crept past Harper and Tyr as silently as a cat, as she was passing Tyr she glanced at him. She smiled, even though he was asleep he looked ready to take on anything the universe threw at him. He had put himself at risk to help her and her feelings towards him were growing stronger every minute she spent with him. She didn't like that though for she knew those feelings could never be returned. Tyr had been raised as a Nietzschean. She hadn't. Tyr believed in the Nietzschean philosophy which said that love didn't exist. She didn't. She believed love existed. He could never love her and Janet knew it. She shook her head sadly.  
  
She walked out of the cave, up the hill and then looked towards the horizon. The sky was becoming a beautiful mixture of reds, golds and yellows. She stood staring at it. Then a small piece of the sun appeared. It was a deep orange. Janet was so wrapped up in the sunrise that she didn't notice someone walking up behind her. They put a hand on her shoulder. Janet jumped and whirled around to see who it was.  
  
"Damit Tyr! What the hell were you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?" she exclaimed.  
  
Tyr opened his mouth to answer but Janet cut in saying, "That was a rhetorical question."   
  
"I see."  
  
Janet turned away looking once again towards the horizon. She didn't know what to do. She was very embarrassed. She didn't like being caught off guard.  
  
"You have a very human name for someone of Cougar Pride." Tyr said.  
  
"My father gave it to me." Janet replied keeping her back to him and then the rest of his sentence registered in her mind. "Wait a minute. What did you say? Cougar Pride?"  
  
"Your father?" Tyr asked ignoring her other questions.  
  
"Well he raised me. He wasn't my biological father." Janet mentally kicked herself. Why was she saying all this?  
  
"And your real father?"  
  
"I don't know. Dead probably. Anyway what's this you said about Cougar Pride?"  
  
"Your tattoo is a dead give away. I knew you were Cougar Pride the moment I saw it." Tyr said putting a hand on her right shoulder where the tattoo was. The jacket that had covered it was in the cave and Janet's shirt slashed diagonally across revealing her right shoulder blade. Janet looked at his hand and then turned to look at Tyr. Didn't he know what he did to her when he touched her like that? It was like sparks of electricity surging through her. "Oh. I've had that since before I can remember." she replied, clearly not knowing what to do. Her tattoo was of a cougars head and shoulders, the cat appeared to be growling. Janet was very proud of it but she had never thought it was anything special.  
  
Tyr stared at Janet. It was clear to him she didn't know what he was talking about. She looked bewildered and stunned. He decided to take advantage of it. "Who was your mother?", he asked.  
  
"I never knew her." Janet said, her voice sounding dazed and confused.  
  
Tyr frowned. He wondered what to do next. He never thought he would run into someone from Cougar Pride. They were all supposed to have been wiped out by Drago-Katzov. "How did you survive the attack?", he asked.  
  
"Attack?", Janet asked. She was starting to come to her senses. She shook her head.   
  
"The attack on your family", Tyr said.  
  
"I'm a Nietzschean. My basic instinct is to survive." Janet had regained her composure and was starting to dance around questions, just like she had done on the Andromeda. Tyr stopped and thought for a moment. He knew he wouldn't get anywhere now, she was prepared for any questions he threw at her. Except maybe...  
  
"You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?"  
  
The expression on Janets' face became a mixture of confusion, fear and doubt. She was backed into a corner. There was no way out. "I... I... don't remember very much." She said and turned away so Tyr wouldn't see her face going red. That always happened at the worst times. Tyr crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for her to say something else. He never got a reply, for two shots were fired in their direction from the woods.  
  
Tyr and Janet jumped and looked around. Tyr pulled out the gun he had been carrying and started shooting back. Ten Nietzscheans came out of the forest coming towards them. Tyr fired and hit two of them. The rest reached the top of the hill and attacked. Janet punched one of them and kicked another. The bone spurs on her arms shot out and she slashed one of the men across the face with them. He pulled back blood streaming down his face. She looked over at Tyr, he had shot another two of them and was currently fighting off another two. His weapon had been lost in the undergrowth. Janet was kicked and she fell to the ground. She rolled over and was just barely missed by one of the mens spurs. She looked up and saw that it was Thor. His eyes burned into hers filled with anger and hate. She kicked him in the face causing him to jump back. She leapt to her feet, kicked and punched him for all she was worth and took a few hits aswell. Two hands grabbed her from behind, she kicked back again and again until she was free. She turned and kicked the man in the face causing him to lose consciousness. There was now only three of Coyote Pride left. Tyr had managed to knock one of his attackers out. Two went after Tyr and Thor went after Janet. She kicked and punched, dodged and blocked but to no avail. Thor was being driven by anger and he wasn't going to give up. He landed some good hard punches that knocked Janet to the ground. She was crawling backwards desperately looking for a way out when she heard a weapon being charged and a single shot fired. Thor fell to the ground beside her, dead. She looked up and saw Tyr holding a gun he had taken from one of Coyote Pride. He walked towards her. She got up and faced him utterly speechless. "Are you all right?, Tyr asked.  
  
Janet nodded. "You?", she said shakily. Looking at Thor's body thinking that if Tyr hadn't shot him it might be her lying there right now she added, "Thank you."  
  
  



	13. Chapter 13

  
Harper appeared at the top of the hill. He looked around him and asked "What just happened?"  
  
"Guess." Janet replied.  
  
"I don't think I wanna know."  
  
"Good 'cause I don't feel like explaining right now." Janet turned to Tyr. "We'd better get out of here. There might be more of them coming."  
  
Tyr agreed but Harper asked, "How did they find us so quickly in the first place?"  
  
Janet shrugged. "I don't know maybe they guessed?" Tyr and Janet turned and started walking towards the forest. Harper followed. Something metallic shone in the sunlight and caught Harpers attention. He walked over and picked it up. It was a control of some kind. It was small and rectangular. There was a screen near the top and a dial beside it. There was some other buttons below the screen. "Hey guys. I found something!", he yelled and ran after them.   
  
"What?" Janet asked when he caught up with them.   
  
"It's some kind of control device. I need some time to figure out what it's for." He said and twisted the dial to the right. Nothing happened. He hit one of the buttons and the screen lit up. "Now we're getting somewhere." He twisted the dial to the right.   
  
Almost instantly Janet clutched her head, fell to her knees. Tyr knelt down beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. Harper twisted the dial back and Janet leaned against Tyr breathing heavily. "Damn that hurt." she said. "It.. it felt like.. like my head was gonna explode or something."  
  
Harper stared at her. He had a hunch and he hated to have to do it but he acted on it. He twisted the dial up. Janet grabbed her head again tears of pain coming into her eyes. Harper quickly turned the dial back and looked at the screen. There was a red dot flashing.   
  
"Uh...Janet..."  
  
"What Harper?" she asked.  
  
"This thing is a tracking device. It's how they found us so fast. They attached some kind of signal to one of us and my guess is you."  
  
A look of shocked realization came over Janet's face. "You mean this cut on my head? They put something in my head?!"  
  
Harper nodded. "'Fraid so. I dunno what it'll do to you but it's probably the cause of all those headaches of yours."  
  
"Let's see that." Harper handed the device to her.   
  
"The dial there controls the frequency of the signal. The higher the frequency the stronger your headaches. It must interfere with your brain pathways or something... I dunno Trance is the medical person."  
  
"That's why there was no guards. They knew I couldn't go anywhere without them knowing it. Our plan of sneaking back and stealing a ship is pointless. We're sitting ducks now."   
  
"Not necessarily." Harper said thoughtfully looking at the device in Janet's hands.  
********************  
"Exiting slipstream in..5...4...3...2...1." Dylan said and turned to Beka. "Prepare the Maru. We're going to get them."  
  
Trance entered Command. "I'm coming too."  
  
"Trance..."  
  
"You might need me. Someone could be really hurt." Trance said to Dylan. He sighed and said "Alright."  
  
Trance smiled.  
*******************  
"Hurry boy." Tyr said impatiently.  
  
"I'm moving as fast as I can, oh Paranoid-One." Harper said from underneath a computer console. They were in a ship in the Hangar. Harper was trying to get the ship to obey their commands. The door opened and Janet came in breathing heavily. Sweat covered her forehead. "Whew! They'll be a while!" She said.   
  
"How long?" Tyr asked. Janet shrugged. "I put it up a tree deep in the woods. Imagine their reaction when they come to the spot where it says I am and I'm not there!" She said with a cheeky smile.  
  
She sat in the pilots chair and closed her eyes thinking about the last few hours. Harper had managed to convert the tracking device he had found into one that gave out a signal that matched the one in her head. He and Tyr had sneaked into the Hangar and Harper was hot-wiring the ship. She had headed into the woods and hid the device and then returned to the Hangar. Security wasn't very tight around the village. Coyote Pride were obviously very confident. Far too confident for their own good.  
  
"Got it!" Harper said triumphantly. "It's all ours!"   
  
Janet opened her eyes and took the controls. She keyed in the access code to open the Hangar door, hoping Coyote Pride hadn't had time to change it. It worked and the doors opened. Janet smiled and moved the ship out of the Hangar and up into the stars.  
  
  



	14. Chapter 14

  
The Maru left the Andromeda heading for the planet. Dylan, Trance, Beka and Rev were onboard. "Dylan a ship just entered our sensor range. It's similar to the other one Coyote Pride had.", Rev said.  
  
"Let's see." Dylan walked over and looked at the screen.   
  
"They're ignoring us and heading for the Andromeda."  
  
"We're being hailed by Andromeda." Beka said and tapped some buttons on her console. Andromeda's face appeared on the screen. "I'm being hailed by the Nietzschean ship. It's Janet, Harper and Tyr."  
  
"Let them aboard. We'll return to you now.", Dylan replied.  
  
The Maru landed in it's familiar spot on the Andromeda. Trance, Rev, Dylan and Beka alighted and headed for the Hangar Andromeda had pointed them to. They entered as Harper, Tyr and Janet were disembarking from their stolen ship. Tyr was carrying Janet. "Is everyone alright?", Dylan asked, he saw Janet and said, "What happened?"  
  
"Janet has a tracking device in her head. We need to get it removed." Tyr answered. "She said she felt dizzy and then collapsed."  
  
"Let's get her down to Medical." Dylan said.  
  
"Come with me." Trance said. They followed her down to Medical where Trance told Tyr to put Janet on a bed while she ran some tests to find the exact location of the transmitter. "We need to get that thing out of her as soon as possible. It's signal is piercing through her skull and slowly affecting her brain pathways."   
  
"What can you do?" Dylan's voice came from the door.  
  
"The only thing I can do is remove it." She said glancing at Janet. "Dylan it's better if you leave. You too Tyr."   
  
The men nodded and left.  
********************  
A few hours later Dylan walked onto the Obs. Deck. Tyr stood at the window looking at the stars. "Tyr?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I need to talk to you about Janet. I'm thinking about asking her to join us. I need to know-"  
  
"She has excellent tactical ability in hand-to-hand combat. She's intelligent, quick and a survivor."  
  
"Well that answers one question."  
  
"What is your second question?"  
  
"There's not going be any...er... conflict between the two of you is there? No pride rivalry or anything?"  
  
"On the contrary. Her pride and mine were allies until we were both wiped out by Drago-Katzov. The only difference is all of Cougar Pride were supposed to have been killed. No survivors, but she is definitely of Cougar Pride. She has the tattoo, she has the appearance and she moves like a cat."  
  
"Drago-Katzov couldn't have wiped out an entire pride. There would be some survivors. There are existing Kodiak."  
  
Tyr turned and faced Dylan. "Drago-Katzov attacked my pride on the ground where we at least had a chance to defend ourselves. They attacked Cougar Pride from space, the cowards. They dropped bombs on all their towns killing anyone in a 500 kilometer radius. The forests, mountains and cities were destroyed. Most of the planet is left desolate, unable to support life."  
  
Dylan stood speechless. Stories like that always strengthened his resolve to restore the Commonwealth. The injustice of it all. Maybe Cougar Pride had done something to offend Drago-Katzov but that didn't justify their destruction.   
  
The door hissed shut behind them. Nobody entered. "Who else was here?" Dylan said looking around.  
  
"No one."  
  



	15. Chapter 15

Janet made her way down the corridor. She had overheard most of Dylan and Tyr's conversation. She wanted to think. She rounded a corner an saw the Magog coming towards her. She froze. Rev Bem looked at her, saw her fear and said, "I sense your fear. I assure you I won't hurt you."  
  
Janet shot him a look of distrust. "Are you alright Janet?", Rev asked.  
  
"I'm fine. Why?"  
  
"You look troubled and in need of guidance."  
  
"Well you could guide me to Hangar 3 where my ship is."  
  
"I'm afraid I cannot do that."  
  
"Why not?"   
"Trance is looking for you. She doesn't think you should be up yet. I couldn't let you go while you are in ill health."  
  
"I'm OK. I wouldn't be walking around if I wasn't."  
  
"I disagree. You seem to have a fear of staying in one place for long. You always have to be moving. Why is this so?"  
  
Janet looked at the floor. "I suppose it's because every time I try to settle down and stay in one spot something happens that sends me running away again. With Coyote Pride it was the slaves and my killing Odius. On R44789 they found out I was a Nietzschean and tried to kill me because of what my people had done to them and on..." Janet trailed off.  
  
"And here? Why do you have to run from here?"  
  
Janet didn't reply, She continued to stare at the floor. "Sometimes the one thing we don't want to talk about is the one thing we need to talk about most of all.", Rev advised.  
  
Janet didn't respond. She didn't want to pour her heart out to anyone, least of all a Magog. She wanted to leave before she did something stupid like telling Tyr about her past. She also didn't want to stay around because the feelings he stirred inside of her scared her and she didn't like being scared.   
  
"I'd watch my back around him if I were you." The subject of Janet's thoughts said from behind her. Janet jumped but didn't turn around.   
  
"You're not me." she replied.   
  
Rev bowed his head to her. "Think about what I said Janet or if you don't wish to talk to me. Talk to the person who is causing you confusion." Rev turned and walked back down the way he came.  
  
Janet stared after at him. He knew! She turned to Tyr a blush starting to creep into her cheeks. "Hi." Tyr crossed his arms over his chest. "You were eavesdropping."  
  
"I didn't mean to I just.... overheard you talking about my pride and wanted to...." Janet sighed. She couldn't lie. "I have to talk to you. I'm not what you think I am."  
  
"What are you? A Than?"  
  
Janet smiled. "No. I'm going to be dead honest with you. I hadn't a clue what you were talking about when you started going on about Cougar Pride."   
  
"I noticed that."  
  
Janet looked at the ground and lowered her voice. Now came the hard part. She would say what she wanted to say, find her ship and then leave. "I...I didn't know what you were talking about because I was... raised by a human on Thraesea in a small village called Maceak."  
  
Tyr's eye widened. He didn't believe it. Any human would kill a Nietzschean child without it's parents nearby. "Go on." he said.  
  
"You said there was an attack or something. I suppose that makes sense. He found me in a crashed drone when I was a baby... and.... he took care of me. He didn't know I was a Nietzschean, hell I didn't know I was a Nietzschean, until my bone spurs grew out when I was nine. The whole village wanted me dead. They feared my parents would return and kill them all for keeping me there I suppose but he wouldn't let them."  
  
"He didn't kill you?"  
  
"Would you be able to kill a child you had been taking care of since it was a baby and had raised as your own?"   
  
Tyr ignored the question. "And he didn't notice you were different from the other children?"  
  
"Yeah of course he did. I was stronger, faster, I didn't mind the freezing cold winters and I learnt things quicker than the others but he didn't think anything of it. I knew I was different from everyone but I didn't think I was..", she waved her bone spurs in Tyr's face "this different."  
  
She gazed at Tyr, waiting for his reaction. "Let me guess. You think I'm inferior to you."  
  
Tyr didn't reply. He was lost in thought. Everything fitted together now. This was why she hadn't been interested in hearing his lineage. She didn't give a damn. She had been brought up with human ideals. He should be walking away saying she was of lower rank to him but he couldn't. He still felt that..that...something for her that he couldn't turn his back on. She waved a hand in front of his face "Hello? Tyr? Say something!Please?"  
  
Tyr looked into her sky-blue eyes. "You're not inferior. You've survived on your own for I don't know how long. You had an entire pride after you yet you escaped them."  
  
Janet shrugged. "Nothing big."  
  
Tyr raised an eyebrow. "I beg to differ." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Janet leaned against him and they started walking down the corridor. "Well you know all this running, escaping, piloting and then head surgery has really made me hungry. Where do you people eat? Or do you eat at all?"  
  
"There is some food in my quarters. I can cook you something."  
  
"You can cook?"  
  
Tyr nodded. "From my days as a mercenary."  
  
Janet turned and kissed him. "Sounds good, as long as you don't try to kill me."  
  
Tyr kissed her back. "I don't think so."  
  
~The End~  
  
Authors End Note: Thank you everyone who reviewed this. I really appreciate it. If you haven't reviewed this please do. Or if you have already reviewed it you can review again if you want. :-) I'm thinking about doing a sequel. Do you think I should or are you tired of this? Please tell me :-)  
  



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